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FULLERTON – Speeders, red-light runners and those who blow through stop signs can expect to pay nearly 200 percent more for a traffic ticket than they did a decade ago.

Base fines for those and other infractions have remained about same for years. But increases in penalty assessments and fees set by the state Legislature have driven up the total costs of citations, according to records from the Judicial Council of California.

Lawmakers have come to rely on the assessments to help fund court and judicial operations, but some motorists consider them highway robbery.

“It’s criminal,” Jon Ephland of Silverado said while waiting to pay his ticket in a line that snaked around the first floor of the North Justice Center in Fullerton. “(Penalty assessments) are totally out of control.”

The base fine of Ephland’s ticket was about $120, but assessments and other fees pushed the total cost of the citation to $627.

Base fines are determined by state statute and the Judicial Council. Judges have some discretion to lower them.

Then the state adds penalties, fees and other assessments, starting with a 20 percent surcharge that goes into the state’s General Fund. The added charges also help pay for DNA identification efforts, emergency medical services, night court operations and other programs.

As a result, a ticket with a $35 fine for driving one to 15 mph over the speed limit ends up costing $238 when assessments and fees are included.

That same ticket in 2005 carried a $25 fine along with $60.50 in fees and penalties for a total of $85.50.

Similar increases have hit just about every moving violation in the ticket book. A citation for failing to obey a traffic signal, for example, cost $134 in 2005 but now totals $238. Failing to yield to an emergency vehicle was a $350 ticket a decade ago; now it comes to $490.

The first penalty assessment was set in 1953 at a rate of $1 for every $20 of base fine. In those days, for example, a $60 fine would be subject to a $3 penalty assessment, for a total due of $63. The extra $3 went to pay for drivers’ education programs in schools

It’s hard to say how much the extra penalties and fees raise; the state’s judicial council doesn’t track the overall revenue collected annually from traffic-ticket assessments. But a 2006 study by the California Research Bureau offers a hint: It found that tickets generated more than $500 million for the state in fiscal year 2004-05.

And any increase has a broad impact. Orange County alone handled more than 375,000 traffic cases in 2013, said Gwen Vieau, spokeswoman for Orange County Superior Court.

One of the most significant fee increases occurred in 2009, when the legislature tacked a $35 “conviction assessment” fee onto traffic tickets to help raise as much as $5 billion to construct and renovate 41 courthouses across the state – none of which are in Orange County.

Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said at the time the bill was vital.

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While parked between the southbound 17th Street on-ramp and the 55 freeway in Santa Ana, California Highway Patrol Officer Paul Fox uses his LIDAR speed gun to find speeders. Soon he got a reading of 93 mph on an Infiniti G35. BRUCE CHAMBERS, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
After getting a reading on his LIDAR speed gun of 114 mph, California Highway Patrol Officer Paul Fox directs a car off the southbound 55 freeway to issue the driver a speeding ticket. BRUCE CHAMBERS, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
California Highway Patrol officers Paul Fox and Florentino Olivera, right, approach a car they pulled over for speeding. Fox's LIDAR speed gun registered 114 mph as the 2010 Camaro SS passed him on the southbound 55 freeway in Orange. The driver, who said he was test driving the car, was issued a speeding ticket. BRUCE CHAMBERS, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
California Highway Patrol officer Paul Fox shows the readout on his LIDAR speed gun after pulling over a red 2010 Camaro SS for speeding on the southbound 55 freeway in Orange. The driver was cited for going 114 mph at 11:13 a.m. Wednesday. BRUCE CHAMBERS, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
California Highway Patrol officer Paul Fox hands the driver of a 2010 Camaro SS a speeding ticket after clocking the car at 114 mph on his LIDAR speed gun. The driver, who told Fox he was test driving the car, was driving on the southbound 55 freeway around 11 a.m. Wednesday. BRUCE CHAMBERS, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Jon Ephland was driving his truck southbound on Imperial Highway toward the 91 freeway when he was pulled over and ticketed for speeding. The fees and extra add-ons ended up making his $120 ticket cost him $647. SAM GANGWER, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Jon Ephland holds some of the paperwork associated with a ticket and registration mix-up that is costing him $627 for a $120 moving violation. SAM GANGWER, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
While parked between the southbound 17th Street on-ramp and the 55 freeway in Santa Ana, California Highway Patrol Officer Paul Fox uses his LIDAR speed gun to find speeders. Soon he got a reading of 93 mph on an Infiniti G35. BRUCE CHAMBERS, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
California Highway Patrol Officer Paul Fox starts to climb off his motorcycle after pulling over a motorcyclist for speeding on the southbound 55 freeway in Orange. The rider was cited for speeding at 87 mph. BRUCE CHAMBERS, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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